Uncovering the Power of Philosophy in Modern Science Discourse

NPA Conference 2013 College Park, MD Philosophy: More than the Middle of NPA Robert Bennett robert.bennett@rcn.com

Why Philo? Why not love wisdom? Communicate with meaning and effect Establish common ground of agreement Eliminate empty dialogues , with no resolution Correct misconceptions.... a key MS error A tool for truth discovery and validation

The best reason? a Firm Philo Foundation Positive Unification and Confidence in Beliefs & Cures Anti-MS Disarray

Rejection of some mod philo is justified... Proposed: - a NPA custom-designed set of premises - applied to current science beliefs - to catalog common fallacies - in MS (and some NPA) thinking.

Build a solid base of axioms Use philo realism and sci method to forestall endless debates Challenge mainstream dogma Train members to: - recognize logical fallacies -WIN ARGUMENTS

Intended result Form a philo forum/thread as followup Form a philo forum/thread as followup Archive any usable results Archive any usable results Unify responses to MS claim Unify responses to MS claims Defuse dialogs doomed to failure Defuse dialogs doomed to failure

Sci Method Violations Testability/repeatability puts limits on space particle physics: unobservables astrophysics : starlight speculations Sun a star? Solar anomalies... limits on time chronons: smallest unit?? Pre sci history .... Geology, Genetics, Archaeology, Anthropology, All the Paleologies

Misconceptions re Philo Science is superior in.... scope content truth details All false but the last

Sci phi not needed? refute: All have a worldview Need formal ed? Nah....a few hours Modern philo stinks! Agreed... If mod = rationalism idealism nihilism scientism naturalism

Philo - Nothing but epigrams?... .... it does not follow that we must adopt the very poor philosophies which scientific men have constructed. In philosophy they have much more to learn than to teach. Dean Inge The theme of this talk!

Philosophy a worldview response to universal ultimate questions Sci Phi covers assumptions, foundations,methods, implications and use of science. Sci Knowledge Domain- KD division of knowledge limited to study of nature.

KD Branches Metaphysics - self-evident and unproven premises Epistemology sources of truth Logic rules of reasoning Ontology properties of being Rhetoric- argument tactics

Input: Sensory data from energy, matter and motion tests Process: Scientific method test iterations and interpretations Output : Natural laws or predictions

KD law: info-out <= info-in Raw info is organized and converted to useful form. Sufficiency axiom Nothing can give what it doesn t already have.. Intro to metaphysics ... and school of realism!!

Limits of the Physics KD Exclusion of: single non-repeatable events extra-natural or supernatural events events not accessible to observer in space or time human testimony ..need self-testing Philo INCLUDES all but #3

More KD limits abstraction of certain features ignoring others subjective test design/ unknown variables non-realistic test interpretations So why so much sci method abuse?? Desperate to advance, so limits are ignored! (like Heliocentrism and CMBcentrism)

Sci fact Sci fiction No events are technically repeatable.. Irreversible flow of time! And exact duplication of original environment in the test protocol? Sci can t explain the difference between a living and dead animal or the mind and the brain! ...nothing beyond materialism /naturalism.

Assumptions of pre-modern science(pre-Galileo) included Realism. .. an objective world exists outside the mind this world is governed by cause and effect regularities the senses are capable of faithfully representing the world to the mind the human intellect can uncover and accurately describe these regularities

KD Hierarchy

MSP Hierarchy Sci accepted its limits & was neutral on religion... prior to Galileo. Then sci became the KD King . .... GUT & TOE!

Metaphysics self-evident fundamental beliefs... the strategic support axioms. Everyone has a metaphysics, a worldview of reality; rejecting it IS itself a metaphysical position! Logic A tool for validating consistency and truth. Math uses axioms instead of nature to form theories. Logic is used to test axiomatic consistency. Epistemology - the sources and discovery of truth; for the NPA: realism plus the scientific method, including logical consistency and testability. Note: Consistency must be established before testing Escape hatch of relativity!

Hi Sci Phi If you get a good wife you will become happy, and if you get a bad one, you will become a philosopher. Socrates The origin of philosophy is sheer wonder. ....There are in fact two things, science and opinion; the former begets knowledge, the latter ignorance. ....All things in moderation. - Aristotle True science teaches, above all, to doubt and be ignorant. Hippocrates Philosophy of science is as useful to scientists as ornithology is to birds. Scientists are explorers. Philosophers are tourists - Richard Feynman ...the MS majority opinion of philo it s too late to ask Feynman the basis for his statement.

Entities should not be multiplied unnecessarily. ... The real Occam s Razor Principle William of Ockham I think therefore I am. doubted everything in order to figure out what he could know with absolute certainty. Although he could be wrong about what he was thinking, that he was thinking was undeniable. Ren Descartes If a tree falls in the forest and no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound? Bishop George Berkeley Realist says... What? (more quotes in paper)

Modern types of sci philosophy : Scientism all world aspects can be completely explained by science. Materialism only matter exists; no immaterial world. Naturalism - only nature exist; denies a spiritual world. Humanism - man is the measure of all things the humanistic view. Scientific modernism a blend of materialism and humanism. Agnosticism - believes there is truth, but no human way to find it. Nihilism- There is no truth.....

What are the limits of a system that uses axioms? .No axiomatic system can prove itself correct or complete! Or .....All logical systems have unproven premises - not provable within the system. G del s theorem EG: to find a word, you must already know a minimum set of words ....the dictionary s metaphysics! (also the spelling anomaly) Dictionary All human KD are incomplete.....Except theology ....why? Nothing is outside the theo KD....

Metaphysical Realism Assumptions - Axioms Assertions Premises Remove self-referential contradictions (Bertrand Russell ) EG: There is no absolute truth! If this is true or false it is self contradictory. Discuss until a common ground for NPA is found. 1) Principle of non-contradiction/logical inconsistency It is impossible that the same thing be and not be at the same time and in the same respect. Corollary - There is nothing between existence and non- existence, being and non-being. EG: No virtual particles...

2) Causality: Every effect has at least one cause. Does everything have a cause?..... NO Theorems: - Actions/events are connected by cause and effect. - Action at a distance (AAAD) with no intermediate causes (media) is totally denied. AKA ...non-locality...non fingo! - The cause is greater than the effect. - Without the cause there can be no effect. 3) Ontology : properties of being: All beings have both existence and essence. Existence: that which is. Essence : that within being that makes it what it is. 4) Behavior follows nature/being. Actions come from the essence. - Actions follow from the essence of being.

5) Sense knowledge: Nothing is in the mind that did not enter through the senses. A rejection of idealism 6)Source of knowledge: Everything in the mind has a foundation in reality. 7)Reliability of the senses: The sense faculties are reliable, relative to their proper object. The eye cannot hear, the ear cannot taste. 8)Universals: The intellect handles universals ; the senses particulars. 9) Self-causality: Nothing causes itself. Nothing can give what it does not have. ....rejects an uncaused origin of the Big Bang expansion.

10)Reality and existence : Nothing can act if not in existence. A rejection of quantum mechanics/probability waves? 11) Consistency of causes: In the same circumstances the same causes produce the same effects. There is no truly random process, contrary to QM. 12) Crux of the scientific method : Theory guides; experiment decides.

Application of philosophical principles MS claims geocentrism is false. Claim: Venus phases and Jovian moons Fallacy: Strawman The false model of Ptolemy makes all cosmic objects primary or direct satellites of Earth. Tycho s model is geocentric, hierarchical like HC and compliant with observations.

Claim: Geocentrism is as false as Flat Earth-ism Fallacy: Red Herring ....the two beliefs are independent. (Fallacies are invalid arguments ..... not conclusions) Claim: Earth s motion is seen in videos from spacecraft or Moon. Fallacy: False Assumption ....assumes camera is at absolute rest. Claim : Earth always moves(HC) and relativity is true. Fallacy: Logical contradiction; inconsistent premises. (I have examined ALL the published MS HC proofs, found them ALL to be false, or found credible alternate causes like aether - for the alleged HC effects. ... GWW book and ALFA model.

Parallax Claim: Parallax proves Earth moves and the Sun is at rest. Fallacy: Circular argument; Premises contain conclusion. Parallax : perceived relative motion between two objects seen from a third fixed reference object. EG: the apparent motion of a near and far object when one eye is open.... then the other. In the diagram on next page, the fixed fiducial line is SNF. GC and HC have the same geometry same distances

The HC model assumes the Sun is fixed and proves that... surprise - the Sun is fixed! ...Assume Earth is fixed ...proves GC! Another very common MS fallacy... assuming a single cause for parallax and the uniqueness of that cause. Linear equation vs. a quadratic! ........Uniqueness requires logical equivalence! How many have ever seen the GC diagram? Why not? Public is duped by this fallacy - Appeal to authority How does this patently false argument gain credibility with MS? MS Psycho-analysis MS demagogues .. Some don t realize the illogic themselves... Others ignore the conflict, because - HC parallax theory works in our culture, and - they want it to be true for personal and subjective reasons .... Exposure as incompetent would be fatal...

Modern mainstream physics has the credibility of .. a used-car salesman... a snake-oil charlatan... a politician! MSP is an intellectual Ponzi scheme, a pyramid of worthless value!

Claims: Equatorial bulge /Foucault pendulum prove Earth spins. Fallacy: Not a unique cause. (Is this even true? NASA photos from space? ) Aether motion at equator causes pressure drop by Bernoulli s Principle.

Defense with sci method... 1) Mic-Gale found E-W light anisotropy Earth rotates Fallacy: AAAD - Effect without cause Rotating aether causes same effect.... Same spin as the stars.

2) GPS comm. needs E-W correction.... An aether effect..

3) Westbound radio signals are slower than eastbound ... Same aether effect

Foucault pendulum: N_S swing sees a greater aether wind S than N.

Nothing and infinity...... Meet realism! Deep MS confusion concerning.... Physical vacuum: space that is empty of all matter IS NOT Nothing or nihil: the absence of anything; non-being: non-esse Deep space vacuum must contain at least stellar and CMB radiation, and a few sparse H atoms. And if EM radiation exists everywhere, then so must its medium aether. Physics under the SM rule of testability, has no way to verify nothing . Aristotle affirmed aether and causality.... ...from nothing comes nothing . With nihil, there s nothing literally to trigger the senses. We have no mental image of what nihil means except as a negation of what we can perceive!

Lawrence Krauss, a popular MS promoter, ventured into philosophical turf with A Universe from Nothing: Why There Is Something Rather than Nothing This limited view of a physicist was formal analyzed by a trained philosopher in Not Understanding Nothing - A review of A Universe from Nothing by Edward Feser This excellent review displays how a modern physicist struggles when the basics of knowledge are missing.... or dismissed with hubris ; selected portions are covered in my paper.... A recommended read.

More MS confusion Infinity: something without any limit or end; unboundedness. Finity: something with limits or boundaries The contents of space objects are limited now to having an actual location, shape, etc., but have the potential to change these limits. And they will always have potential to change at least one of these limits. Space the container of objects - also has potential to change its limits. So space cannot be infinite... without any limits ...Its limits are mutable . Time is the measure of change in space (motion) so it too is finite . Realism (potency and act) shows that space and time are finite..... There are no physical infinities. A BB MUST BE FINITE! To be infinite is to be without change immutable.... and eternal ... and homogeneous...and ubiquitous.. Proven by the scholastics .... five centuries ago.

Scientism revealed Sect 9 in paper Antithesis of realism a form of modernism called scientism. Philosopher Ed Feser applies philo rules to this modern blight on scientific thinking. Some talking points : Scientism: ALL real knowledge is scientific knowledge there is no rational, objective form of inquiry that is not science. ....... science is synonymous with reason. True scientific inquiry itself rests on a number of assumptions: - there is an objective world external to the minds of scientists; - this world is governed by causal regularities; - the senses faithfully represent the world to the mind - the human intellect can accurately describe these regularities Familiar? Recommended , of course.

10. A Realism Apologetic Realism on the attack! We will micro-analyze ON THE ELECTRODYNAMICS OF MOVING BODIES By A. Einstein June 30, 1905 a classic original source of relativity fallacies and illogic.... the origin of many MS delusions... Only a summary of the paper s details will be given... 1-It is known that Maxwell s electrodynamics.....when applied to moving bodies, leads to asymmetries.... The asymmetries in Maxwell s laws are due to performing tests only in the lab and assuming a stationary aether. The EM theory of Hertz removes the asymmetries by including motion of the charge through the aether using the total time derivative. (see Old Physics for New, T.E. Phipps ,Jr.) Fallacy: False Assumption... That Maxwell s laws are complete

2- .unsuccessful attempts to discover any motion of the earth relatively to the light medium, suggest that [EM] and mechanics possess no properties corresponding to absolute rest. But no specific attempts are cited. Fallacy: Shifting the burden of proof In 1905 some tests supported absolute rest. ...if a mobile aether was included in the model. - Stellar aberration by Bradley - Michelson and Morley non-zero null result - Newton s mechanical test of a spinning bucket All suggest the Earth frame is at absolute rest. Fallacy Ignoring counter-evidence After 1905 Sagnac s EM test of light speed variation suggested that the Earth frame is at absolute rest.

3- ..position can be defined relatively by the employment of rigid standards of measurement..... Rigid is undefined. If rigid means a fixed shape, then within rigid body, no sound/stress waves are possible (periodic distortions of shape). Fallacy Undefined concept; Contradiction with reality 4- ...time values [can be] determined by an observer with the watch at the origin... This simultaneity description doesn t define a physical clock/watch... Fallacy: Another undefined concept 5 an observer ...coordinating the ...positions of the hands with light signals, .....reaching him through empty space. Fallacy: AAAD... No causality

6- ...this co-ordination .... is not independent of the standpoint of the observer with the watch or clock, as we know from experience. Astronomical time is independent of the observer (local conditions). First, establish GMT by observing a standard stellar position. The time at any other location is its longitude*sidereal day/360. This is a universal or absolute physical time. 7- ..we establish by definition that the time for light to travel from A to B equals the time it requires to travel from B to A. The time for Two Way Light Speed (TWLS) can be determined from T = d/(c+v) + d/(c-v) = 2d/c where v is the aether speed in the direction of c. Fallacy violates multiple causality in this case, a change in c due to aether motion.

8- The laws by which the states of physical systems undergo change are not affected [in inertial reference frames] Refuted by Newton s bucket and Ruyong Wang s FOC Fallacy ignores experimental disproof 9- Any ray of light moves in the stationary system of co- ordinates with the determined velocity c, .... But the stationary system is any chosen ref system. Let 2 light beams travel from the source in opposite directions. The 2 wavefronts separate from the source at c, but at 2c relative to each other. SR postulate 2 says the beams separate at c. Logic : c + c = 2c STR: c + c = c or 2=1 Fallacy violates principle of non-contradiction

10- The length to be discovered ... we will call the length of the (moving) rod in the stationary system. ....we shall find that it differs from l[length of stationary rod]. If the lengths of the rod change in relativity, how can the rod be rigid? Fallacy violates principle of non-contradiction 11- Observers moving with the moving rod would thus find that the two clocks were not synchronous,.... Observers using universal time will find the clocks are synchronous. Fallacy - ignores multiple causality 12- ...it is clear that the equations must be linear on account of the properties of homogeneity which we attribute to space and time. A space containing a dynamic aether that varies in optical density (n) and speed (real space) cannot be homogeneous. Fallacy False premise/metaphysics